When trying to run rspec, I get “uninitialized con

Question

When I run rspec spec I get the following:

/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-rails-2.7.0/lib/rspec/rails/extensions/active_record/base.rb:26:in `': uninitialized constant ActiveModel (NameError)
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-rails-2.7.0/lib/rspec/rails/extensions.rb:1:in `require'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-rails-2.7.0/lib/rspec/rails/extensions.rb:1:in `'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-rails-2.7.0/lib/rspec/rails.rb:8:in `require'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-rails-2.7.0/lib/rspec/rails.rb:8:in `'
    from /Users/noahc/Dropbox/perfect_setup/spec/spec_helper.rb:4:in `require'
    from /Users/noahc/Dropbox/perfect_setup/spec/spec_helper.rb:4:in `'
    from /Users/noahc/Dropbox/perfect_setup/spec/controllers/pages_controller_spec.rb:1:in `require'
    from /Users/noahc/Dropbox/perfect_setup/spec/controllers/pages_controller_spec.rb:1:in `'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:459:in `load'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:459:in `block in load_spec_files'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:459:in `map'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:459:in `load_spec_files'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:18:in `run'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:80:in `run_in_process'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:69:in `run'
    from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rspec-core-2.7.1/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:10:in `block in autorun'

My spec_helper.rb looks like this:

ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require 'spec_helper'
require 'rspec/rails'
require 'rspec/autorun'
require 'spork'

Spork.prefork do
  ENV['RAILS_ENV'] ||= 'test'
  require File.expand_path('../../config/environment', __FILE__)
  require 'rspec/rails'

  RSpec.configure do |config|
    config.mock_with :rspec
    config.fixture_path = "#{Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
    config.use_transactional_fixtures = true

    ActiveSupport::Dependencies.clear
  end
end

Spork.each_run do
  load "#{Rails.root}/config/routes.rb"
  Dir["#{Rails.root}/app/**/*.rb"].each {|f| load f}
end

Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each {|f| require f}

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.mock_with :rspec
  config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
  config.use_transactional_fixtures = true
  config.infer_base_class_for_anonymous_controllers = false
end

Dir[Rails.root.join('spec/support/**/*.rb')].each{|f| require f}

If I delete my pages_controller_spec file the errors go away. But I have zero specs to run.

The error returns when I have something even as simple as this:

require 'spec_helper'

describe PagesController do
  it "should do something..."
end

Also, if I add any tests no matter where I get the same error.

Any clues on other things I can try?

Answer 1

In my case

  gem "spork-rails", "~> 4.0.0"

was missing in ./Gemfile.

Answer 2

Found this thread while debugging the same symptoms. Here is another reason for the error: I had run

rspec --init

but had failed to run

rails generate rspec:install

Doing the latter fixed the problem.

Answer 3

Why are you running rspec spec? The typical thing to run is rake spec.

Try bundle exec rspec spec or bundle exec rake spec.

If that doesn't work, try to see if something is wrong with the rest of your environment -- try bundle exec rails console and bundle exec rails server

Another thing to check, is there anything odd in .rspec in your project file, or ~/.rspec?